Proper care and maintenance of rifles, shotguns and pistols requires that gun bores and chambers be kept free from obstruction, cleaned and oiled. A typical gun cleaning kit comprises a multisection jointed rod of stainless steel, anodized aluminum or hard wood, with attached or separate palm-rest or straight stock handle, and a plurality of accessories such as slotted or jagged nylon tip, bronze brush, wool mop or swab, and the like. The rod sections and accessories are screwed together, with handle at one end and an accessory at the other for passage of the accessory from breech to muzzle of the gun bore and elsewhere, as desired, to brush and swab the same and to apply solvents, oils and other protective substances.
Handles used with metal rods tend to be of the palm-rest type, which screw on to the end of the connected rod sections to form a T-shaped handle at right angles to the rod shafts for pulling the brush, swab or patch back and forth through the barrel. Wood shotgun rods of old style design tend to have straight stock handles coaxially oriented and formed as part of an end rod section for pushing an accessory through the barrel. Some gun owners prefer a straight stock or "push" handle to a palm-rest or "pull" handle. Conventional cleaning rod handles are of one type or the other.
Gun care and maintenance may also require disassembly and reassembly of gun components, often requiring the use of screwdrivers or similar implements. Screwdrivers may also be needed in the field for adjusting sight alignments, and tightening scope bases, action screws, trigger guard retaining screws, recoil pad screws, butt plate screws, etc. An assortment of such tools may need to be carried to meet various needs that may arise.